Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Deeper into the Morlock Hall (But Deep Enough?)

This session happened Friday, October 15, 2010, and was the only session I ran this past weekend. This was Rhapsody's last game as the player is moving back to Ohio. The player and the character will be missed.Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Sal Ty (elf wizard)
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Rhapsody (half-elf rogue)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)

Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table.

Dedicated to clearing out the areas under "their" tower (especially now that they know they can defeat the morlocks easily), the adventures head out. The group makes their way to Drop-off Tower, the wizard and the sorcerer leading the way, using prestidigitation to plow through the snow. The only hitch is running across a dire boar snuffling around the road for edibles, but the group quickly turned the dire boar into edibles. Tasty, tasty edibles.

At Drop-off Tower, the group showed Tycho and Agnes where the manticore treasure had been for two months. The group then rigged up a method for heating the tower for the night and they camped. The night passed with no sightings of wild animals.

In the morning, the group descended into the "basement" and started re-exploring the area. They noticed that the fungus was growing back, but at no great speed. They went through the Pillar Room and the two secret rooms connected to it to the central corridor and discovered that this area was still blanketed with fungus. There was some discussion about killing the rust monsters, but it was decided that the rust monsters ability to eat away the fungus was most valuable, especially if they unchoked the stairs leading down in the Pool Room.

The group backtracked through the secret rooms and around to the octagonal statue room [octagonal room with a statue, not the other way around] and found the passageway north covered with a urine-soaked, stretched-leather barrier. Not knowing why the morlocks had created the barrier (although Sal strongly suspected that the fungus was dangerous to the morlocks), they left it alone. The small portcullis east was raised and the group advanced east cautiously. Stopping at the Winch Room, they heard mumblings inside. Mog broke down the door to find six very surprised morlocks gambling with dice. The morlocks were quickly killed. Rhapsody picked up the wooden tokens (and the dice, a regular set and a loaded set) the morlocks were using as stakes, but could not determine what they represented.

The group pushed on into morlock territory. They found signs of their previous combats (blood spilled on the floor – mostly adventurer blood) in the first room. They took the hallway north past the morlock latrine, discovering that the secret door to the morlock guard post would not open [it was spiked from the other side]. To avoid any unwanted surprises, the adventurers spike the door shut from this side and continued on, something they would regret later. They found a morlock sleeping area, which was empty, and followed the another hallway east. It eventual turned south to a T-intersection, with one branch leading to the guard room and the other down to some doors and around a corner, out of sight.

The adventurers decided to clear out the guard room first and headed that way. Once again they were able to surprise the morlocks in the room, but were not able to quickly eliminate the morlocks this time. The fight with the 12 morlocks lasted a bit, long enough to draw attention from down the other branch of the T-intersection. Sal quickly cast a web spell and blocked the hallway behind the group, keeping the morlock reinforcements at bay.

Once the morlock guards were dead, the group prepared to attack the reinforcements, but heard the reinforcements flee north. After a bit, Rhapsody was able to hear the reinforcements flee past the secret door, but, as the adventurers had spike the secret door from the other side, the fleeing reinforcements escaped.

Rhapsody and Agnes quickly searched the guard room and then the adventurers gave pursuit [after Sal dispelled his web spell, of course]. They were able to follow the morlock tracks south, past a room the morlocks had ambushed out of last time the adventurers had been in this area, so the group slowed down and listened at the door. While doing so, Rhapsody noticed a secret door in the wall opposite. Not wanting to pursue the morlocks down a tunnel that went farther than any of them could see while there was a room to check, the adventurers opened the secret door and investigated the room beyond.

What they found was a long hidden and long abandoned equipment room, untouched for over 200 years. Shelves of basic gear, heavily aged but not beyond the repair of a mend spell and several racks of elven [masterwork] longswords, including four that tested as magical. With smiles all around, the adventurers started packing the equipment as fast as Sal could mend it, rolling the swords up into restored blankets. The only potentially darkness in this scene is in two of the magic swords. One of the swords was unholy [+1], another anarchic [+1]. While an anarchic longsword was not too unexpected, why was there an unholy longsword in a clearly elven supply cache?

While looting, er, securing the contents of the room, a secret trap door was noticed in one corner of the room. Underneath the trapdoor was a short ladder and a tunnel heading roughly northeast. To follow or not to follow? With their bag of holding bulging with the contents of the room, the adventurers decided it was time to return to the Iron Keep and see about converting some of the swords to coin.

The next day, the trip back to the Keep was uneventful. However, when attempting to sell the swords in town, the adventurers discovered that their treasure was worth more than anyone could buy. They were able to sell the anarchic longsword to one of the wealthier weaponsmiths and a few of the "regular" elven longswords, but found no takers for the other blades…until they were visited by a representative of the Baron. He indicated that the Baron wished to purchase the unholy longsword. Not wanting it themselves and preferring the coin, the adventurers quickly accepted the deal, with only Agnes wondering why the Baron wanted it. [Not that she got an answer mind you.]

Flush with cash, most of the adventurers celebrated in style. Mog, on the other hand, paid off a few of his debts. Easy come, easy go.

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I'm using this blog to chronicle the campaigns I am either running or playing in and occasionally posting things I'm writing. I started writing a sci-fi novel and journaled that effort. Two drafts are complete, but I'm stalled for a moment, so I'm writing other things for a while until I find my muse for that again.

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